Lost Troopers
by mah29732
Summary: Caught in a crossfire with the Confederacy, a mysterious lone Jedi with vital information to the Republic has handed over to his clone troopers. The clone troopers land on a dark planet not far to elude Grevious, but something else is watching them too.
1. Run In With the Confederacy

Lost Troopers

Chapter 1: Run In With the Confederacy

A lone Republic Consular-class space cruiser a Trade Federation cruiser, along with also being backed up by two Providence-class destroyers. General Grevious was onboard the Trade Federation cruiser in question happily about to acquire another lightsaber as part of his trophy.

"Foolish Jedi" said General Grevious as he glared while the star fighters began to take out the shield of the Republic Consular-class cruiser, "you think this is a good path to ensure that you'll escape providing your previous Republic with vital information it needs?"

"Sir, shields are nearly down, should we send in a boarding party?" asked a battle droid.

"I'll handle this one, increase the tractor beam" ordered General Grevious as he then headed toward the hangar bay.

Meanwhile back on the Republic Consular-class space cruiser, things were looking quite grim for the occupants. Most of the members onboard the ship were Clone Troopers. The Jedi in question for which was heading to give vital information for the Republic was a mysterious, lone human Jedi going by the name of Xavier.

"You sir this was the right route to go?" asked the Clone Captain to the Jedi.

"I thought it was a route the Confederation wouldn't take" replied Xavier.

"Looks like we got to get the heck out of here" said the Captain as he ordered the rest of his troops to head toward the escape pod, "what about you?"

"I'll stay here and deal with Grevious" replied Xavier as he placed his hood on, to which he then hands over the Clone Captain the vital military information on the Confederacy, "take this, Grevious is sure going to get a big surprise, when he finds me."

While the Clone Troopers immediately went to the escape pods of the Republic Consular-class space cruiser, the ship itself was being pulled right into the Trade Federation cruiser with General Grevious anxiously waiting for the Republic ship to arrive. Escape pods from the Republic ship were fired away, sending the escaping Clone Troopers to a distant unknown planet, in the Outer Rim not knowing what would be on it. Back with the Trade Federation cruiser, the tractor beam had already brought in the Republic ship. As the ship landed in the hangar bay, several Trade Federation battle droids, along with a few Confederate super battle droids came into the scene just to back up General Grevious just in case.

"Let me handle this" said General Grevious as he took out four lightsabers.

As the Republic ship finally landed, the hatch was forced right open by Xavier's force push, sending the door flying and crashing destroying a few Trade Federation battle droids. The Jedi leaped down with his yellow lightsaber on ready to duel Grevious.

"You think you can handle me Jedi?" asked Grevious as he began to approach Xavier, "Once I have that vital military data of ours in our hands, after I finish you off, we'll display you as an example on what could happen to any Republic spies."

"My, my, Grevious, Grevious, Grevious" said Xavier as he turned off his lightsaber, "reason why I'm turning off my lgihtsaber, and not going to fight you is that there is no need for such a duel."

"Why?!" roared Grevious.

"Because I don't know if your droids are that smart, but I sent my vital military data on the Confederacy and handed over to the Clone trooper captain" replied Xavier, "your battle is with him now."

"You idiots!" cried Grevious as he then used one of his lightsabers to behead one of the battle droids, "Did you detect any escape pods from the Republic ship?"

"Well sir, we did detect two escape pods leaving with a few life forms, we thought the Jedi would have the data we need" replied the battle droid.

This then promptly made Grevious use his lightsaber in beheading that battle droid in question.

"Take this Jedi to the prison section of the ship" said Grevious as he marched out of the hangar bay quite disappointed, "I'll have to send in a squad or two after those two escape pods!"

Back with the two Republic escape pods, the Clone troopers were quite well cramped in the two pods. The captain of the squad was quite concern on where the two escape pods in question. A little known distant planet in the Outer Rim was the target planet to temporarily stay until Republic forces came to their rescue. After an hour or so after the two pods left the Republic ship, the two escape pods eventually penetrated the atmosphere of the planet. As the captain gazed out the window it was rather a dark, and swampy planet. The two escape pods soon crashed on the dark planet.

"Sir, where the heck are we?" asked one of the clone troopers as he then managed to open the hatch of the escape pod.

"Don't know" replied the captain who managed to get himself out first, "but from the looks of things no one has ever bothered to set foot here for eons."

"So what are your orders sir?" asked another trooper.

"We find the other part of our squad, and then from there setup camp for the night" replied the captain.

"This place creeps me out" stated another trooper as he and the segment of the squad led by the captain.

"I know what you mean" added a second, "I would rather be up there with the Jedi fighting Grevious to the end."

"Will you two please knock this off" said the captain as he turned to the two Clone troopers whom were concern about the atmosphere around them, "this data is important to the Republic, and I'm not going to allow some cowards surrender it to the Confederacy. Now let's keep on moving, come on!"

But something else had caught the attention of the presence of the lone squad of clone troopers whom had just happen to land on its turf. A genetically altered spider, from the days of Naga Sadow which went under various experiments by the deceased Sith Empire. The genetically altered spider here, wanted to have a little fun with the clone troopers whom had just happen to wondered on this turf. As the clone troopers managed to find their fellow stranded comrades nearby, the spider rushed from its cave near the crash scene of the escape pod where the first small squad of the clone troopers and hurried into some nearby bushes. The clone troopers were quite unaware of its presence, as they prepared to sleep for the night at their camp.


	2. Finding Shelter

Chapter 2: Finding Shelter

It was a near close to the first day being stranded on a dark planet which the clone troopers had used to escape the Confederacy forces that were on their tail. After a few hours, after setting up camp, it suddenly began to rain quite hard. The clone troopers grabbed any gear they could and left the camp area. The spider, infected with Sith powers was intrigued by its prey as it watched the clone troopers scatter to get out of the rain.

"How the heck are we going to get out of this crazy weather?" asked one of the clone troopers.

"I don't know" replied the captain, "we should just keep on moving, maybe find some shelter like a cave or something."

"Bah, I wouldn't bother heading into a cave on a strange planet like this" stated another.

"Look, we just need to find a way to get out off this planet, so that we can go back to the Republic and give them the necessary data we have extracted about the Confederacy" replied the captain, "so keep moving!"

The clone troopers kept on moving through the brush of the swampy jungle. It was getting quite darker by the second, and the night vision on the helmets were becoming quite useless as well.

"Darn, the night vision is starting to get a bet fuzzy here" said one of the clone troopers as he was trying to fix his helmet on right.

"Just deal with it, and follow my voice" said the captain.

While the clone troopers were trying to find their way out of the swamp, and a strange spider creature following their every move, up above the planet, Grevious was rather quite impatient in interrogating the lone Jedi that was captured. Xavier sat meditating in his cell while Grevious was at the other end.

"Listen Jedi, you better tell me what you stole from the Confederacy" said Grevious.

"Ha, you call this an interrogation?" asked Xavier as he opened his eyes, "I'm sure your superiors up high in the Confederacy would be ashamed to see you doing something like that."

"Oh is it going to be like that Jedi?" asked Grevious as he was about to lower the shield of the cell to enter it.

"You really want me to acquire one of those lightsabers, by doing as something stupid like that?" continued Xavier as Grevious was about to make his move.

The General grumbled as he was about to enter the code to lower the shield, and stopped.

"Bah, I don't need this" said Grevious as he walked out.

As Grevious continued to head away from the prison, a battle droid came up toward him.

"Sir, we have launched a search party for the clone troopers like you've ordered" said the battle droid as it began to walk with Grevious.

"Excellent" said Grevious as he continued walking, "how long before will the search party land?"

"In a few more minutes sir" replied the battle droid, "should be easy picking by then."

"Excellent" said Grevious as he then made his way toward his private communications room leaving the battle droid behind.

After with a failed interrogation of the lone Jedi that was captured, the General sat down on his armchair, which was close to a round table. On the center of the round table, a hologram of Count Dooku appeared before Grevious.

"Ah, General Grevious" said Count Dooku, in a somewhat polite manner, "have you acquired the necessary data that was stolen?"

"Not yet" replied Grevious, "the Jedi's being too crafty. He thinks some mere clone troopers would be able to help him hide what they stole from us."

"I'm just disappointed that you weren't so quick in doing in the Jedi" said Count Dooku, "is there a reason why that he hasn't been killed?"

"I would have had the chance if HE was the one who had the vital stolen data" replied Grevious, "but for some reason he had no need to fight me!"

"I see" replied Count Dooku with a bit astonishment on his face, "well, perhaps if you allow the Jedi to escape, he might lead you to the missing clone troopers whom do have the data that's vital to ours in their pocket."

"Are you saying we let the Jedi escape?!" cried Grevious.

"It might only be the right strategy to ensure we acquire the data that was stolen first, then you can deal with however you wish to the Jedi" replied Count Dooku.

"I'll think about this" said Grevious as he got up to head back to the bridge of the ship.

"You do that" replied Count Dooku as the hologram then disappeared.

While General Grevious was plotting some sort of way to ensure he'll acquire the data on the Confederacy that was stolen by the lone Jedi. Back on the dark planet below, the clone troopers were still having trouble getting out of the rain. That was, until the captain of the clone trooper squad saw what appeared to be a building in the distance despite all the pouring rain.

"Shelter, about time!" cried the captain with joy as he and the rest of his squad moved toward the abandon building.

As the squad of clone troopers headed to the abandon building, the door appeared to be locked. The captain then signaled one of the other clones to kick down the door which was quite easy since the door was quite old. After that, the squad of clone troopers then headed inside, to dry off. But as soon as the captain stepped inside, something inside of him didn't feel right about the place. Some other members of his squad expressed similar feelings.

"I think I would have preferred to have stayed in a cave" said one of the clone troopers as he then turned on the light that was on his weapon.

"I don't blame you" replied the captain as he also turned on the light on his weapon, "we should also conserve batteries on these lights as well."

"So who do you think might have built this place?" asked another clone trooper, while the rest of the squad continued on its path into the building.

"I'm not sure" replied the captain to which he stepped on something quite hard on the ground.

The captain then looked down and noticed some sort of a strange rock, but as he began to pick it up and turn it around. It turned out that it wasn't a rock at all, but a human skull on the floor. This spooked the captain a bit, to which the other members of his squad rushed over.

"Who do you think use to live here?" asked one of the clone troopers to the captain.

"Well, whoever they are they are long gone" replied the captain as he studied the skull.

But as the clone troopers were prepared to settle down for the night, the spider creature that was following them finally arrived near the entrance of the abandon building. Instead of making an entrance to the building, the spider decided to instead take the back way in through a network of tunnels underneath the abandon building itself. The clone troopers were still unaware of their unwelcome host.


	3. Unwelcome Host

Chapter 3: Unwelcome Host

The lost clone troopers eventually managed to setup camp within what appeared to be an abandon facility of some sort on the dark planet. While the clone troopers kept at least two members of the squad up in shifts to watch over, the Sith-infected spider was busy borrowing through the tunnels beneath the facility for which it had often used as a home, and a way to get out of the facility to begin with. The two clone troopers whom were ordered by the captain to keep watch were unaware of its presence as the rest of the squad was as well.

"So how the heck do you think we're going to get out of this one?" asked one of the clone troopers.

"Not sure" replied the second clone trooper, "I'm sure this abandon facility here has some communications we can fiddle with that'll help us contact any Republic forces."

"Well, I think we should wait until everyone's up and ready to search for such a thing here first" said the first clone trooper.

"Bah, I'm scouting up ahead in this abandon facility to see if there's such communications we can salvage from" replied the second trooper who then began to leave the scene.

"You get back here, you're disobeying orders!" cried the first clone trooper.

After a few minutes after the second clone trooper left the scene, the first one immediately went to the captain of the squad who was trying to get some sleep.

"Wake up" said the clone trooper as he tried to wake up the captain of the squad.

"What is it now?" asked the captain as he got up.

"We got trouble, my partner decided to try to see if this facility has any communications we can use to contact the Republic forces" replied the clone trooper.

"Is he insane, does he know what sort of creatures might be roaming about here?" replied the captain as his tone of voice started to wake up the rest of the squad.

"I'm sorry sir, but I guess he really wanted to see to find a way to contact the Republic" continued the clone trooper.

"Alright, everybody get up" said the captain as he started to bug the rest of the clone troopers whom were still fast asleep, "we got a rogue member of our squad we need to find. If he ends up making us run into trouble, and we survive he's sure going to get reprimanded for it."

Meanwhile while the rest of the squad were gearing up for a late night rescue mission to retrieve a rogue member of the squad. The lone clone trooper in question was already deep inside the facility in question. It was rather quite dark, even with the night vision on the helmet the clone trooper couldn't see clearly. But something else was following the lone clone trooper, as he turned a corner to head down a hallway of the abandon facility, the strange spider creature immediately appeared right where he once stood.

"There must be some sort of communications I can use in here" said the lone clone trooper as he then found what appeared to be an abandon computer room in the facility.

As the lone clone trooper went to work, the spider creature immediately managed to creep inside the room itself with the lone clone trooper not knowing its presence.

"Darn, these computers must be quite old" said the clone trooper as he couldn't even get the computers started up, "looks like I better head back to my squad or I'll get reprimanded for disobeying further orders."

Suddenly the clone trooper heard a loud noise, to which the spider creature accidentally tripped over a wire, pulling one of the abandon computers down. But the spider immediately went up right on the ceiling of the room to avoid being noticed.

"What the heck was that?!" cried the clone trooper as he turned toward what appeared to be an old computer which had recently crashed right on the ground, "It must be just my imagination, but I'm getting the feeling that I'm not alone."

As the clone trooper observed the computer that was quite damaged on the floor, the saliva of the spider then began to drip from the ceiling as the spider itself was in the mood for hunting some prey. The saliva dripped right down, and onto the damaged computer to which the clone trooper thought it was just a mere leak.

"It's probably just a leak, nothing to be concern about, this place is old anyway" said the clone trooper to himself trying to calm himself down.

But as the clone trooper looked up even with his night vision still active he suddenly saw two glowing red eyes to which spooked the clone trooper. The spider landed itself right on the ground, to which the clone trooper immediately took out his weapon and began to fire. This immediately got the attention of the captain of the squad.

"Come on, I think we found our missing squad member!" cried the captain as he and the other clone troopers rushed to the scene.

The lone clone trooper was doing his best to fire at the strange spider creature. But the spider creature was able to jump with quite such speed. It then spun a web, to which it then grabbed the weapon from the clone trooper and immediately ate the weapon. But before the spider creature could pounce on the clone trooper, the rest of his squad busted right into the room with their weapons drawn.

"What the heck is that thing?!" cried one of the clone troopers in the squad to the captain.

"I'm not sure, but fire at it!" replied the captain.

The clone troopers were a bit too much for the spider creature, and it managed to go right into a hole that was a former air vent in the facility to use as an escape path.

"What were you thinking!" cried the captain as he barked at the lone clone trooper who wondered off, "We don't even know what that thing was, and it could have used you as prey!"

"Sorry captain, I just wanted to find a way out of here" said the clone trooper.

"Well, I won't punish you since our lives depend on staying in numbers, but next time don't wonder off" replied the captain as he scolded at the clone trooper.

"Yes sir" replied the clone trooper.

Meanwhile back on the ship which Xavier was still being held captive, two battle droids were called in, with one of the battle droids purposely carrying the lightsaber of the lone Jedi.

"You think this plan of the General's will work in just simply allowing the Jedi to escape?" asked the first battle droid.

"I"m not sure this plan would be so full proof" replied the second one, "but if the Jedi does escape it'll give something for us to shoot at."

"Let's just hope the General's plan isn't so flawed" continued the first battle droid.


	4. Escaping Jedi

Chapter 4: Escaping Jedi

The two battle droids continued on their path toward the jail cell where Xavier was busy meditating. One of the battle droids then went toward the console and began to press the code to lower the laser force field around the jail cell.

"So, you two are going to take me down yourselves?" asked Xavier as he then noticed his lightsaber on one of the battle droids.

"Precisely, General Grevious has perfectly instructed us we'll shoot you into space for not cooperating with us" replied the battle droid who was holding the lightsaber behind its back.

"Well, it seems if this was an execution plan" said Xavier as the first battle droid lowered the laser force field of the jail cell, Xavier used his force pull and grabbed the lightsaber from the other battle droid and chopped the head off the first battle droid, "seems like you need some work on that."

Xavier then uses his force push on the remaining battle droid, sending it crumbling right into pieces. The Jedi then heads out of the prison to which some other battle droids noticed his presence.

"It's an escaped Jedi, shoot him!" ordered one of the battle droids.

The battle droids did their best, but not before up above on the bridge of the ship, General Grevious was watching his plan unfold. If he couldn't be able to get the information out on the lone Jedi he had held captive, the Jedi was going to lead him to the stranded, and lost clone troopers on the planet below.

"Everything is working perfectly as planned" said Grevious as he was quite happy seeing the more incompetent battle droids be dismembered by the yellow lightsaber on the security cameras, "the Jedi doesn't know that he'll lead me to the information he stole from the Confederacy, and once I have it, I'll be able to finish the Jedi!"

"But sir, wouldn't it make more sense to do in the Jedi now before he destroys too many of our fellow droids?" asked one of the battle droids who approached the General.

"You don't understand the brilliance of my plans" replied Grevious, "I have sent my elite core droids to the planet already. What do they have to report?"

"Er, sir, they haven't reported in, there's been heavy rain that's been preventing them from landing" replied one of the droids who was at the console.

"Bah, raise the shields on the landing party ships then" replied Grevious.

"Roger, roger" replied the battle droid as it then began to insert orders on the console.

Back on the dark planet below, while Xavier was chopping away battle droids at ease, deep within the facility, the squad of lost, stranded clone troopers were still trying to find some reasonable accommodations for shelter. The lone trooper whom wandered off fought what seem like a genetically altered native, giant spider of some sort to which members of his squad had to come to the rescue. That particular spider was still watching over the squad of clone troopers whom were prepared to rest for the night.

"Okay" said the captain as his men finished finally setting up camp, "we're going to keep at least four of us on the watch for that strange spider. Do not disobey following any of my orders."

Once again, the clone trooper whom disobeyed the orders was chosen to keep watch along with three other clone troopers. The lone clone trooper in particular was quite nervous to encounter that strange spider creature again.

"That thing creep me out big time!" whined the clone trooper to his three other comrades.

"That's because you didn't follow orders, you went off in some rogue manner on your own" snapped one of the other clone troopers.

"Well, I was trying to find to see if there was a communications room that was still active" replied the clone trooper.

"Well, it nearly got you killed" said a second clone trooper, "don't do that again."

As members of the small group of clone troopers spread out of the temporary camp, the spider creature then began to emerge from the shadows and quickly dashed behind some crates causing some noise which alerted one of the clone troopers.

"What the heck made that?" asked one of the clone troopers.

"How should I know" replied the second one.

"Look, I think it's a bad idea, but perhaps we should go investigate it" said a third clone trooper.

"What, you heard what the captain said, we're suppose to keep watch" replied the lone clone trooper who originally disobeyed orders.

"Bah, what do you know" said one of the clone troopers, "you two, check it out and come back here if you need help."

The two clone troopers then promptly left their posts, to search what made those noises.

"So, do you think it could have been that spider creature we fought?" asked the first clone trooper as he was walking aside his partner.

"Possibly, but we're ready for it if it dares shows its face around here" replied his partner as he readied his blaster.

As the two clone troopers spread out, they came across some abandon crates to which the spider creature then heard their presence. The strange spider then began to dash up the walls of the facility, so it can get an easier glimpse on the two clone troopers below. Saliva from the spider once again began to emerge from its mouth, but the spider was a bit cautious in not trying to have it drip all the way down to the floor. But instead of feeling the drop of saliva from the two clone troopers, the two clone troopers had a strange smell that was quite up and close.

"Yuck did you wash today?" asked one of the clone troopers.

"Yeah, why?" asked the second clone trooper.

"This smell, it's so awful!" cried one of the clone troopers, "I'm going to take off my helmet."

But before the clone trooper could do that, the spider decided it was time to pounce. It landed and crashed into some crates to which the clone troopers then readied their weapons and began to fire at the spider. The spider creature had easier time in dodging the attacks, and managed to use its web to grab the weapon from one of the clone troopers. Another web then emerged, and grabbed the clone trooper's leg.

"Get this thing off of me!" cried the clone trooper as his partner was trying to help him.

The clone trooper's partner tried his best, but the spider creature managed to grab the clone trooper away and tie him up in a chaconne and immediately dashed out of the scene. The lone clone trooper then immediately raced back to where his squad was resting. He immediately woke the captain of the squad who was astonished what had happen.

"I can't believe you!" cried the captain, "What did I tell you to do here?!"

The lone clone trooper who went off this time, was silent in a response.

"Come on" said the captain as he got everybody up, "we got a spider to hunt down."

As the captain and the rest of his squad grabbed their gear to save the clone trooper captured by the spider creature, the Xavier back on the ship where Grevious was on was close to heading toward the hangar, while below on the planet he was about to head to, a landing ship touched ground with a battalion of elite droids from the Confederacy emerging to search for the vital military data stolen from them.


	5. Arrival On the Dark Planet

Chapter 5: Arrival On the Dark Planet

The landing party of the Confederacy finally made a landing on the dark planet. In spite of the heavy rain, Trade Federation, along with Confederate super battle droids emerged from the landing ship, along with some back up with some Trade Federation battle assault tanks. As the battle droids were heading toward the front along with at least two squads of droidekas rolling into the scene. The head battle droid stopped the rest of the droids from advancing to which a hologram of General Grevious appeared before him.

"CC94-DF" said Grevious, "I'm glad you have finally managed to land your troops."

"Yes General" replied CC94-DF, "despite the heavy weather on this planet, we were able to land all of our troops with ease. We have scanned the planet before there was a break in the weather. It appears our lost clone troopers could have headed toward shelter nearby in some abandon facilities."

"Excellent!" laughed Grevious, "but we seem to have some mess to attend to, the Jedi will try to find his clone compatriots. If you have any star fighters hovering above, let him go through the small blockade. I'll soon join you shortly by then."

"Roger, roger" replied CC94-DF as the hologram of Grevious disappeared, "alright, let's move out and search the entire area for those clone troopers. Let's move it!"

The battle droids, tanks, super battle droids and droidekas alike all moved through the swampy brush. But what these battle droids didn't know is that something had already found their targeted clone troopers. Right now, the captain of the clone troopers was leading a rescue mission for one of their own was still being held captive by a mysterious spider creature they had encountered earlier.

"Come on, pick up the pace" said the captain as he began to rush members of his squad who were becoming quite exhausted.

"Sir, some of us haven't received our rest" said one of the clone troopers.

"Well, maybe if one of you hadn't disobeyed our orders, we may have not upset some of the native predators on the planet" barked the captain, as he then scolded his men.

"But sir, all I wanted to do is find a way we can contact the Republic" said the clone trooper whom originally disobeyed his orders.

"You're lucky I'm not the sort of captain whom would put you on trial, and disband you from the Republic forces" continued the captain in a strick manner, "we are going to find the other trooper that the strange creature took."

"But sir, it just seems this facility is so big, how are we going to find whatever the heck was that thing anyway?" asked another clone trooper.

"Hmm, you might have a point" replied the captain, "men, I got a plan on how to draw that creature out from its hiding place. One or two of you are going to be acting as bait. Luckily I remembered I have a tracking device on me, really meant to be placed on Confederate droid scum on spying missions. But since I have at least one tracking device on me, that'll be used to track this spider-like creature we've encountered and follow it to its lair."

"How would you know that would work sir?" asked another clone trooper.

"Look trooper, we've tracked Confederate spies with this device" replied the captain as he showed them the device, "I believe we can track down a rogue creature if we put our minds to it."

As the captain of the lost squad of clone troopers was preparing his bold plan, Xavier finally reached the hangar of the ship. There were strangely low number of battle droids defending any escape shuttles in the hangar. One shuttle was prepared just right for Xavier in quite a strange manner. He knew perhaps Grevious may have wanted him to escape, but he'd have to take that chance.

"Look, Jedi, shoot him!" cried one of the battle droids as it noticed Xavier using force speed to move right into the hangar bay.

The few battle droids fired at Xavier, to which the Jedi easily managed to use his lightsaber and deflect the lasers. He then used his force push powers, to push down some crates that were nearby the battle droids.

"Look out!" cried one of the battle droids as the crates fell right on them, making them unable to reach for their weapons.

"And now to make my escape" said Xavier as he headed right toward the shuttle.

As Xavier began to start the shuttle, he knew he had to get to the dark planet below to find his clone troopers for which he gave the vital information to before the Confederacy got to them first. But little did he know, his sixth sense of Grevious plotting to use him to get to his clone troopers was right on the money. One of the battle droids still under the large crates picked up its communicator.

"Did you allow the Jedi to escape?" asked Grevious on the other line who was still at the bridge of the ship.

"Roger, roger, could you get some other droids to get these things off of us?" asked the battle droid who still was having a bit of some trouble.

"Fine" replied Grevious, "I'll soon be arriving on the planet myself to deal with the lone Jedi, and those clone troopers."

Back with the squad of clone troopers, the captain was quite confident his plan would work of tracking down the rogue spider creature that attacked his own men. He had two members of his squad keep watch, and also be used as bait to draw out the spider creature. It seemed to be working so far, as the spider creature emerged from the depths of the underground tunnels of the abandon facility.

"So, you think this plan of the captain's is going to work?" asked one of the clone troopers who doubted the plan.

"It seems risky, but I think we can worry about one less thing if this succeeds" replied the other clone trooper.

As the two clone troopers waited seemingly alone, waiting for the spider creature. The spider creature made a quick dash toward the ceiling of the facility. Saliva, once more emerged from the mouth of the spider and began to drip. It then began to drip more saliva, as if there were a leak within the abandon facility itself.

"Look, rain, it must be a leak in this old place" said one of the clone troopers.

"Er, I don't think that's no leak" replied the second clone trooper as he took out his weapon and noticed the spider creature glaring down with its red glowing eyes.

The two clone troopers then began to fire at the spider creature, along with also other clone troopers whom then came out of hiding. The spider creature suddenly realized it was a trap for itself. But the strange creature had no problem dodging the blasters from the clone troopers, and managed to use its web to grab some of the weapons away. The captain wanted to get closer to the spider creature so that he could throw on the tracking device on it. He got his wish, when the spider creature lunged right at him.

"Ha, this thing is ugly as hell!" cried the captain as he noticed that he'd rather marry, and star at a hutt than look in the face of the ugly spider which was too gross to mention.

The captain then pressed a button on his suit which then shocked the creature. The creature made a horrible sound, as if it were in temporary pain. The captain then saw the opportunity and threw the tracking device on the creature to which it then began to head back to where it once came from.

"Quickly, we haven't got much time, follow it!" cried the captain as he dusted himself off and picked up his weapon.


	6. Dark Origins of the Unwelcome Host

Chapter 6: Dark Origins of the Unwelcome Host

The captain of the squad of clone troopers was on a desperate track into finding their kidnaped comrade taken by a mysterious spider creature. As the captain continued to lead his squad, they eventually headed down what seem like an underground cave of some sort under the facility itself.

"Looks dark in there" said one of the clone troopers as he gazed down.

"I don't care" replied the captain, "we're going to rescue one of our own, that's an order!"

"Turn on your night vision equipment on" suggested one of the clone troopers as it was quite dark in the cave.

As the clone troopers headed down toward into the cave, one of the clone troopers stepped on what it appeared to be some sort of glass on the flour.

"Are you alright?" asked the captain as he noticed quite a sharp piece of glass the clone trooper had stepped on.

"I'm fine, these boots really provide protection" replied the clone trooper who accidentally stepped on the glass.

"Look, you might want to see this sir" said one of the clone troopers whom rushed over toward the captain.

As the captain was then shown toward another part of the cave, the clone troopers then shined on their lights that were attached toward their weapons. The light then shined upon what seemed like some sort of a tube, and also a holocron of some sort attached to what seemed like an ancient computer.

"What the heck is this captain?" asked the clone trooper whom discovered it to the captain.

"I'm not sure" replied the captain to which he then noticed some sort of strange web surrounding the broken down tube, "but I think we know where our unwelcome host came from. Come on, that creature must not be far away from here."

While the captain continued to lead his troops to confront the dangerous spider creature, Xavier was already on a shuttle that was seemingly not well defended by the Confederacy. As he came closer toward the dark planet in question, he felt a disturbance in the force, as if a dark, mysterious force resided down on that particular planet. He also observed the star fighters from the Confederacy going around the planet, as if they wanted him to land on the planet.

"Yes, that's it" said Grevious as he was observing secretly from his private shuttle he was on, "land first, and the trap shall be set Jedi!"

Grevious watched anxiously, as Xavier then landed the shuttle, heading over toward an empty area of a less swampy area of the planet.

"Now" said Grevious, "take me to my troops, I'll enjoy hunting the Jedi on this puny planet here."

"Roger, roger" replied the battle droid captain.

Back on the dark planet, the clone troopers soon found themselves in a network of underground tunnels.

"Which way do we go captain?" asked one of the clone troopers.

"Hmm, looks like we're going to have to split up" replied the captain, "I'll lead one group, and the top two commanders should lead the other group."

"Good idea" said one of the clone troopers.

As the squad of clone troopers split themselves up into three separate groups, the spider creature which was holding the lone clone trooper it abducted under literal wraps was watching them going through the tunnels. The commander of the first group of clone troopers headed down one of the tunnels to which the spider decided it was time to strike against the small group of clone troopers.

"So, where do you think that thing lives, here?" asked one of the clone troopers to the head of the group.

"I don't know, but it sure looks like it" replied the head clone trooper.

The commander of the group then led his small group of clone troopers around a corner to which the Sith influenced spider then moved quickly right through the pathway, causing some small rocks to fall nearby spooking one of the clone troopers.

"What the heck was that?!" cried the clone trooper as he was trying to find out where the disturbance came from.

"Keep on moving trooper, probably some rats living under these old tunnels" replied the commander.

But as the spider continued to oversee the small group of clone troopers, it then began to receive its disturbance of its own. The lone Jedi Xavier, was in a desperate search as he was using his lightsaber to chop through the swampy brush. The clone troopers could wait, as it seemed like they'd be small appetizers than having a Jedi. But perhaps, the spider creature would have desired to make up its strength before heading out to hunt the Jedi. Back with the group which the captain of the squad was leading, one of the clone troopers accidentally stumbled upon a small rock, sending him tumbling down the tunnel to which the captain and the other clone troopers rushed toward him.

"Are you alright?" asked the captain to the clone trooper.

"Just a sprain" replied the clone trooper as he managed to get himself up.

"Uh, captain" said one of the clone troopers as he gasped at what he found, "you might want to take a look at what we found."

As the captain then got a closer look, he noticed some of the skeletal remains of some poor traveler who got lost on the planet.

"See what information is on the poor soul" said the captain to his troopers.

As two clone troopers headed toward the skeletal remains of the traveler who was found in an old chaconne, they found this poor sap was a smuggler who was trying to avoid local law enforcement at the time.

"You might want to read this sir" said one of the clone troopers as the clone trooper pulled a piece of paper from the mummified skeletal remains of the smuggler.

"Whatever did this, I'm sure is still here in these tunnels, come on, we got to regroup" said the captain, "it's not safe being separated."

"You got that right" said another clone trooper as he headed out with the captain.

But as the captain and his troopers left the small cave which was down a hill in the tunnel they were in, the spider creature leaped down right into the small cave and began to look around. It's red eyes glared at the path where the clone troopers where heading, and it knew the captain would eventually have his men regroup at the center making it the right strategy for the spider to strike at the clone troopers. But as the clone troopers were about to be ambushed by their unwelcome host, Confederate droids led by battle droid CC94-DF had already greeted General Grevious as he landed his private shuttle to personally hunt down the Jedi.

"Now commander" said Grevious, "let's go full force into finding those clone troopers, and get the vital information they stole from us."

"Roger, roger" replied CC94-DF to which he then turned toward his fellow droids, "you heard the General, move out!"


	7. A Convenient Escape Path

Chapter 7: A Convenient Escape Path

While the squad of clone troopers were regrouping, the spider creature was moving right in, on its targets. It seemed pretty easy picking for the spider creature in question. The captain of the squad was quite confident that the target would come right toward them, yet he'd not know that the lone Jedi Xavier, would be coming their way. Xavier sensed something, a disturbance in the force as he cut his way through the brush of the swamp. Eventually, he came across a tunnel which he accidentally stumbled upon, and fell right into it hitting quite a number of rocks.

"Please help me!" cried a voice which sounded more like a clone trooper.

As Xavier searched the tunnel, he found a chaconne and used his lightsaber to open it up. There was the missing clone trooper from the squad who was all in quite a sticky mess.

"Trooper, are you alright?" asked Xavier.

"I will be, but we have to get to the others, fast!" replied the clone trooper.

Xavier and the lone clone trooper rushed toward the area where the captain and his squad were regrouping. Yet as the captain was prepared to do just that, the spider creature lunged toward the squad itself. It quickly took their weapons with its web, and ate each one of the blasters from their hands.

"Oh great, now how the heck are we going to finish this thing off?!" cried one of the clone troopers.

"Looks like we're going to be on its menu" sighed another clone trooper.

"Don't worry" said the captain as he and the rest of his squad were backing off from the spider as it began to approach them, "I'm sure something would come up sooner or later."

Suddenly, the captain could hear someone yelling at the creature, and suddenly the sight of a Xavier himself, with his lightsaber turned on leaped right out of nowhere toward the spider. Xavier slashed at the spider with his lightsaber, which it then began to make a horrible cry.

"You'll never defeat me, Jedi" said the spider telepathically.

"What's the matter, why have you stopped?" asked the captain to Xavier as he landed right in front of them along with the lone clone trooper previously abducted coming toward their side.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's trying to communicate with me" replied Xavier.

"Yes I am, all of you would make fine meals for me" laughed the spider, "I am a child of Naga Sadow, my Creator designed me for the purpose of absorbing living beings with the force intact within them. But the scientists working for my Creator couldn't handle my strength, and I soon consumed them as my first victims. Not even other Sith could stop me, and also for the poor average fool who crashed here on this planet. I'll soon be happy enough to consume you, Jedi!"

The spider the lunged at Xavier, but once again, Xavier slashed his lightsaber at the spider, which the spider the gave off another horrible cry. It then charged at Xavier again, but Xavier used his force push, and also used force levitation to slam the spider against the wall of the tunnel. This commotion then caused quite a scene to which was being picked up on the Confederate scanners.

"Sir, we're picking up a disturbance nearby" said CC94-DF to General Grevious, "should we fire upon those tunnels up ahead?"

"Hmm, this could drive out those lost clone troopers and that Jedi that escaped" thought Grevious, "tell the tanks to fire at them!"

"Roger, roger" replied CC94-DF.

Suddenly, the Trade Federation tanks then began to move right on the tunnel system which the spider creature had dug out. It then fired upon the tunnels, which many of them began to collapse.

"What the heck was that?!" cried one of the clone troopers who noticed the Trade Federation tanks blasting right at the tunnels which they were right in.

"I think I got an idea on how we can get rid of our problem here" replied Xavier as he continued to fight off the spider creature, "you clones get the heck out of here, the shuttle which I landed is not far from here."

"Sounds like a good idea to me" said the captain, "come on, while those Trade Federation tanks are still providing the cover, let's move it!"

As the captain and the rest of his squad made their escape, the spider creature was also about to have enough with Xavier.

"You're too troublesome to me Jedi, perhaps one of your fleeing clones would be good for my appetite" laughed the spider creature.

"Oh, I don't think so" said Xavier as he then used his force powers, and levitated the spider right in the air.

Xavier then used his force push, to send the spider creature right into the clearing of the oncoming droid army.

"Sir, we've detected a strange creature in the clearing, we don't know what the heck it is" said CC94-DF, "what are your orders General?"

"Hmm, a rare creature's parts may provide a lot of money for the Confederacy, if we sell them to the right smuggler for the right price!" laughed Grevious, "Let's just take this as a consolation prize!"

But as the Trade Federation tanks moved onto its new target, the spider creature managed to recover from Xavier's attacks and instead lunged at the oncoming droid army. This gave enough time for Xavier to escape along with the clone troopers whom were already in the shuttle which Xavier had landed not far from the scene.

"Do you still have the data from the Confederacy with you?" asked Xavier to the captain.

"Right here" replied the captain as he showed the disk to Xavier.

"Excellent, the Republic would be pleased with this vital information on the ship movements of the Confederacy in this system" replied Xavier, "come on, let's get the heck out of here before anything else comes after us."

"You right on that one sir" said one of the clone troopers who was the pilot of the shuttle.

The shuttle immediately took off, to which case the Confederacy was too busy on the planet. The spider creature was able to destroy some fo the Trade Federation tanks, by using its claws to dig through the top of the tank and take out the droids.

"I think I'll handle this" said Grevious as he turned on his four lightsabers.

Grevious then leaped toward the spider creature and with four slashes of the lightsabers, the spider was quickly subdued, though not killed.

"CC49-DF, have the rest of the droids retrain this troublesome creature, the Republic may have gathered information on us, but we'd be able to use the parts of this creature to recreate what we've lost" said Grevious.

The scene then ends with the shuttle carrying Xavier, and the clone troopers leaving the solar system which the Confederacy control. Which they'll now head toward friendly Republic controlled zone.


End file.
